Brandie Townsend on The Value of Waste: Transforming Trash into Treasure

The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti

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The Green Impact Report Quick take: Waste management expert Brandie Townsend revolutionizes how we view "trash" by demonstrating that landfills are obsolete and most materials can be repurposed, recycled, or reused for both environmental and economic benefits.

Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dedicated to the triple bottom line: people, profit and the planet, Brandie Townsend brings a wide range of environmental connectivity and resources to the table with an extensive background in sustainability and hospitality. This energetic and skilled professional excels at developing positive relationships with clients and communicating the benefits of sustainable design, products & services. With experience developing optimal solutions and driving sustainable returns on investments, she's an influential strategist with talent for initiating & building teams and projects.

🌱Breaking Ground on Better Building In this episode, Brandie Townsend revolutionizes traditional construction and waste approaches:

Key Insight #1: Landfills are obsolete when we recognize the value in waste

The Challenge: Traditional waste management uses expensive landfills ($11 million holes in the ground) to dispose of valuable materials
The Solution: Parse out materials for their next best use through deconstruction instead of demolition
ROI: Save on dumpster fees ($75/ton, 5-ton max on roll-offs) while recapturing value from materials like dimensional lumber, metal, and gypsum

Key Insight #2: Circular economy starts at the landfill scale house

The Challenge: Municipalities lose money burying valuable resources while contractors pay to dispose of materials
The Solution: Transform landfills into material recovery facilities where contractors can exchange materials
ROI: Creates a marketplace where small contractors can bring materials for credit and purchase what they need, generating revenue for municipalities

Key Insight #3: Construction waste management must be logistically planned

The Challenge: Contractors default to the "easy button" - throwing everything in one dumpster
The Solution: Use Gaylords, super sacks, or small hoppers to parse out waste by material type
ROI: Makes material recovery more practical, reduces hauling costs, and adds value by directing materials to appropriate processors

Sustainable Soundbite "All of that… is truly embodied energy [/Carbon]. We took a lot of time to make all this stuff and then we ended up throwing it into a hole. And that's really not the best use of our embodied energy." – Brandie Townsend

Your Green Building Action Plan Transform your next project with these steps:

This Week: Look at how much you're paying for dumpster service and explore alternatives for material separation
This Quarter: Make trades responsible for their own waste streams (electrical, plumbing, etc.) since these materials have value to them
This Year: Implement a comprehensive waste management plan that identifies appropriate receivers for each waste stream and tracks the value recovered

Connect & Learn More

🌿 Access full episode resources: Link
🗒️ Connect with Brandie Townsend: LinkedIn
🔗 Learn about her reverse vending machine initiative for bottle and can recycling
🔗 Check out her work with Brewmark Flooring creating closed-loop recycling for trade show flooring

Want More Green Building Insights? Newsletter coming soon!

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